A comparison between students’ mental health in Sweden and Cambodia.

Sammanfattning: Mental illness is seen as a public health problem around the world, especially among adolescents. Cambodia is one of Asia's poorest countries, and has one of the lowest health statuses. Only one in four children are able to go to school in Cambodia for economic reasons however in Sweden all children have the right to education but mental health is still a major problem. The aim of the present study is to make a comparison between the mental health of children in English schools in Sweden and in Cambodia, using a target group of fifteen-year-olds, and also to see if there are differences in the school staff's work in promoting children's mental health. This study used both a qualitative and a quantitative method involving sixty-six fifteen-year-old students. A questionnaire adapted from Antonovsky‟s Sense of Coherence (SOC) theory was used. Five qualitative interviews with teachers working with health were also carried out.The results showed that the Swedish students were satisfied with their life situation, and also had a higher SOC than the Cambodian participants. The students in Cambodia enjoyed school more than the Swedish students, but still, anxiety and worries were more common among students in Cambodia. The teachers in Cambodia and in Sweden had different ways of defining what health is.